GIFT GUIDE: PROMOTING HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT IN KIDS

Today, we’re rounding up some holiday gift guides, full of great options for kids that will be more than just fun. Each gift is guaranteed to pack a whole lot of punch when it comes to promoting developmental skills too!

Gift Guide: Toys to Promote Fine Motor Skills

1 || Learning Advantage Hammer and Nails: We love this game not only for the fine motor benefits but also because it is great for visual motor practice. Your child will love using the hammer and nails to arrange different sized shapes into a masterpiece! Not for children under 3!

2 || Peaceable Kingdom Willy’s Wiggly Web: A fun game that addresses scissor skills? YES, please! This game rocks it for preschoolers as they use their scissors to try to cut bugs free from the spider’s wiggly web! Tons of other developmental skills are addressed as well from cooperative play to directionality to counting skills and more!

3 || Stick-Lets: These are ahh-mazing! Developed with the idea to get kids back outside and engaging in imaginative play, these reuseable, weather-resistant, safe, silicone joints allow kids to use found objects like sticks to create anything their mind will allow!

4 || Hape String Along Shapes: A great fine motor toy for ages 3-5 these beautiful toys can be strung by color, shape or pattern and encourage bilateral coordination and fine motor skills while stimulating the mind!

5 || BRIO Builder Construction Set: With 135 wooden blocks and plastic pieces, your kiddo can use his imagination to create anything from airplanes to trees! Using their screwdriver and wrench to manipulate the screws and nuts, they will love to combine pieces into whatever their little minds can dream up!

6 || Peaceable Kingdom Feed the Woozle: Another Oppenheim Toy Award Winner, this game is great for fine and gross motor skill development! Your kiddos will use a spoon to feed the hairy monster his silly snacks. 3 levels and lots of ways to play!

7 || HabaGreta’s Garden Lodge Threading Game: Kiddos use their fine and bilateral coordination skills to make a playful scene by threading pictures wherever they want them to go! The possibilities are endless and the benefits are amazing!

8 || Green Toys Tool Set: What child doesn’t love to build??? This 15 piece tool set includes all they need for imaginative play and comes in blue AND pink! Hand strengthening skills will be mastered as they use the screw driver, hammer, pliers, bolts and nuts.

9 || Peaceable Kingdom Stack Up!: This award winning game of tower building can grow WITH your child because it has 3 levels. Encouraging cooperation, fine motor plan and hand/eye coordination, through play, this Oppenheim Toy Award Winner is an awesome gift for kids!

10 || Automoblox: Your child can amp up their fine motor skills by changing out the wheels, rims, tops, fronts and back ends of these cars to make them their own!

Gift Guide: 10 Therapist-Approved Toys to Promote Gross Motor Skills

1 ||Wishbone 3 in 1 Original Bike: This amazing product transforms from a baby walker into a push tricycle and then into a small or large balance bike! What more could a kid (or a parent) want to get on the move!

2 || Upside Down Yoga Games Yoga Spinner Board Game: When it comes to improving kids’ posture, balance, coordination, strength, and self-regulation, you pretty much can’t beat yoga. Spin the spinner and answer one simple question or try to hold a certain pose for ten seconds. The object is to collect a card of each color by holding poses, answering questions, and/or completing partner challenges.

3 ||Rody by Gymnic: Our kids LOVE these! The modern day hippity hop, Rody’s encourage balance, coordination and motor planning and they come in so many great colors!!

4 || Chasin Cheeky Ring Toss by Hasbro: This isn’t just a good old fashioned ring toss game. In this updated version of an old classic, kids are on the move, chasing the funny little monkey and trying to toss their rings onto his tail! So awesome for visual motor integration and coordination!

5 || Learning Resources Crocodile Hop A Floor Mat: Encouraging minds and muscles through play — what a great combo! Kids roll the cube and learn numbers, colors, shapes and counting then hop to a spot. First one across the river wins!

6 || Spooner Boards: Kids will love showing off their best moves on one of these! You can balance on your feet and rock side to side, lie on your stomach and spin like crazy, or even take it for a spin in the snow like a sled!

7 || OgoSport OgoDisk Super Disk: One of the most fun and versatile gross motor toys we’ve seen in a long time, the OgoSport Super Disk is a throwing disk that doubles as a bouncy racquet for tennis balls, Koosh balls, and even water balloons!

8 || Musini: This awesome toy takes your child’s energy and turns it into music! The Musini senses your child’s dancing, jumping, running, and any other movement and responds by playing music. You can select different styles of music and adjust the sensitivity level so your child has to move more or less.

9 || Gonge River Stones: These cool gross motor props are a fun way to get kids moving, balancing, and having fun! The steepness and difficulty varies on each side of each stone, keeping kids on their toes – literally! Kids will love seeing if they can make it across the room without touching the floor!

10 || Think and Roll Play Board Game: This game’s soft plush game cube makes it a perfect choice for toddlers. Kids roll the cube, find a game card that matches the color they rolled, and then perform the action that’s listed on the card. Great for teaching about colors, emotions, body parts, movement, and more!

1 || Lakeshore Scented Dough: Can your child tell you the difference between the cherry and the grape? OR, tell you which color goes with which scent? They won’t mind practicing with this non-toxic dough as they mold it, shape it and squish it for the ultimate sensory experience!

2 || Radio Flyer Ziggle: Twist the front and wiggle the back of this ride on toy and off you go! I can pretty much guarantee that there will be 360* turns involved!

3 || Find It: Kiddos exercise their visual systems as the spin, twist and shake the Find It game to locate one of 40+ objects hidden within based on any theme imaginable! Fun for all ages of boys and girls.

4 || Wonderworld Wonder Sensory Blocks: These little gems hit 3 sensory systems at once: vision, hearing and touch. Even the youngest of children will enjoy stacking them up, shaking them fast and playing a game of putting them in!

5 || Touchy Feely: Let your child’s sense of touch rule as she reaches into the covered container and feels around for the object on her card. Can she differentiate textures, sizes, and spatial properties to pull out the right item?

6 || Weplay Green Rocking Bowl: Your kids will want to climb over, hide under and rock in this kid-sized bowl! I can even picture a group of kids spinning one child who is sitting inside. SO.MUCH.FUN!

7 || Gonge Tactile Discs: Send your child on a tactile adventure with their hands or feet! Make a stream to step across or a bridge to climb over. You can even blindfold them and give them one of the small discs in their hand to see if they can determine the same pattern in the large disc under their feet. Another game with endless play opportunities.

9 ||Alex Monkey Balance Board: This adorable balance board is a great way for kids to work on weight-shifting, balance, and leg strength which all add up to improved a healthy vestibular system and awesome gross motor skills!

10 || Swing-N-Slide Monster Web Swing: You already know that swinging offers a fantastic sensory experience. On this platform-type swing, your child can sit or stand as they fly through the air!

Lauren Drobnjak is co-author of The Inspired Treehouse blog and a pediatric physical therapist who currently practices in the educational environment. She has been a physical therapist for 18 years, with 17 of those years specifically in pediatrics. Her drive to make a difference in the lives of kids has led her entrepreneurial spirit in the direction of creating opportunities for play-based wellness and child development. She is a busy mama of 3 who thrives on chaos. To come down from the stress, Lauren enjoys exercising like she’s still 20, yoga, chocolate, a great book, browsing Pinterest, and anything crafty!